"So... this is what you call your base?"
In the damp and cold cave, Fang Mo looked around the surrounding rock walls with some disdain. "I don't expect you to create a manor like Xavier Academy, but this cave is a bit too casual, isn't it?"
Yes, drawn by the allure of unlocking a mod, Fang Mo had now accepted the invitation to Magneto Erik's base.
To be honest, though, the place was somewhat underwhelming. Although Erik's base appeared very spacious, it was clearly quite rudimentary. It was essentially just the inside of a coastal cliff that had been hollowed out, and he had simply moved in. It was strikingly similar to how Fang Mo started his base in Minecraft.
Fang Mo wondered if his own Minecraft memes were too strong.
Maybe Erik had been influenced and subconsciously turned into a miner, digging a hole to make a home.
"Sorry, this place is indeed a bit crude," Erik admitted straightforwardly after hearing Fang Mo's complaint. "But there's nothing I can do about it. Unlike Charles, I can't spend so much effort to create a comfortable living environment. After all... I'm a globally wanted mutant criminal."
"A wanted mutant beggar?"
Fang Mo looked at Erik with some surprise. "Uh... alright, I won't criticize you then. At least this place shelters you from the wind and rain."
"..."
Erik felt a sudden, inexplicable headache.
"Actually, it's not as bad as you think," Erik finally said after a long pause. "What you see now is just the surface. Maybe after I show you around, you'll change your mind."
"Please, begin your performance."
Fang Mo said.
"Follow me."
Although Erik felt a bit of a headache, he didn't argue much with Fang Mo. After all, he had known for decades how unpleasant Fang Mo's personality could be. He directly walked deeper into the cave.
Seeing this, Fang Mo followed with his daughter in his arms.
Naturally, a small, useless Cheems was trotting along at his feet.
In the end, after a brief tour, Fang Mo found that the cave was indeed slightly better than he had initially thought. Of course, just slightly.
It was clear that Erik had put some effort into this place. Although the entrance looked no different from an ordinary cave, there were some simple metal decorations inside. Many of the rock walls were lined with shiny silver metal plates.
In addition, there were some lighting fixtures.
As Fang Mo walked, he saw several circuits, indicating that the place had electricity or some kind of power generation device. But the space was too vast, so even with lighting, it was still quite dim.
As they went deeper, he also saw some more complete living facilities.
For example, there was a kitchen and a rest area.
However, some of the doors in the rest area were fitted with thick metal cell doors, clearly used to imprison someone.
"Oh, right, I almost forgot about this."
As they passed by, Erik seemed to remember something and slapped his head.
With a wave of his hand, a metal cell door not far away suddenly opened like dough being pulled apart. Then came the sound of something being dragged, followed by a middle-aged man tied to a metal chair flying out with a scream.
"Ahhh..."
The man's scream was so miserable that Fang Mo glanced at him.
Upon observation, Fang Mo found that the man was a typical Caucasian with blonde hair, wearing a suit, exuding the aura of a high-ranking person used to a life of privilege.
"Let's go, we'll continue the tour."
After doing this, Erik continued walking forward nonchalantly.
"?"
Fang Mo's little daughter was quite curious, looking up and staring at the middle-aged man flying in the air.
"What's up, darling?"
Noticing his daughter's state, Fang Mo asked casually. He also wondered if he shouldn't have brought her along, but she was no ordinary child... This little one had actually lived for decades. She needed to see the world, after all.
He couldn't raise the daughter of a mighty dimensional demon to be someone who only called for her mother all day, could he?
"Hmm, it's nothing."
As Fang Mo was pondering these random thoughts, his daughter spoke up, "It's just... Mom, I think that chair is really shiny and pretty."
"Then it's nothing."
Hearing that his daughter was only attracted to the chair, Fang Mo felt a bit speechless.
Soon, under Erik's guidance, they reached the deepest part of the base, a huge underground cavern.
"Alright, we have arrived."
Upon reaching this spot, Erik waved his hand again.
The middle-aged man flying in the air suddenly fell with a thud.
Fang Mo stopped in his tracks upon hearing the words and looked around. It appeared that this place had been transformed from a natural cave. The entire ground was a shimmering underground lake, and in the center of the lake was a vague island, connected by a silver metal pathway.
The group was currently on this metal pathway.
"Welcome here, Fang Mo."
Erik turned around with a smile, suddenly spreading his arms wide. As he did so, all the spotlights around them turned on simultaneously, revealing a strange-looking metal apparatus behind him.
"Hmm?"
Seeing this, Fang Mo realized what was happening.
If he remembered correctly, this machine was the secret weapon developed by Erik, a critical device in the plot of X-Men 1.
"Heh, so you noticed."
Seeing Fang Mo observing the device, Magneto immediately displayed a proud smile: "Years ago, I helped Charles create the secret weapon of the X Academy... the Cerebro. Now, we, the Brotherhood of Mutants, also have our own secret weapon."
"You..."
Fang Mo was about to speak indifferently, but the system prompt sounded in his mind once again.
[System Prompt: New module characteristic detected. Research to gain download permissions.]
"Hmm?"
Hearing this, Fang Mo's interest was piqued.
"I know this!"
Fang Mo suddenly said seriously: "Charles's superweapon is the Mind Control Device... so your superweapon must be the Gene Mutator. Am I right?"
"...What did you say?"
Erik was momentarily stunned by this.
But soon, he shook his head with a smile: "It seems nothing can escape your future-predicting ability... Yes, this is indeed a Gene Mutator."
"Mind Control Device, Gene Mutator, and I even have a police dog with me."
Hearing Erik's words, Fang Mo couldn't help but facepalm: "The most absurd part is that there's Apocalypse in this world... Damn, have I crossed into the Red Alert?"
"What?"
However, Erik, unlike Logan, didn't catch the joke and was utterly confused: "Apocalypse? What is that?"
"Never mind, you'll find out eventually."
Fang Mo waved his hand and then added, "Uh... maybe from the past."
Considering Apocalypse's convoluted timeline, it seemed he was in a new timeline, while Fang Mo was in the old one. He didn't know how to explain this to Erik.
"Huh???"
This baffling answer left Erik even more puzzled.
But since he couldn't figure it out, Erik decided not to dwell on it. His goal was to persuade Fang Mo to join his side.
With this in mind, he shook his head.
"Forget it."
He said while walking towards the machine: "Let's just show you first. The test subject is ready."
"Test subject? Wait!"
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged blonde man suddenly reacted: "You evil mutants... how can you use me, a senator, as your test subject? Where is my bodyguard? Where is Henry? What did you do to him?"
"I'm afraid he's long dead."
Erik looked at him calmly: "Senator."
"Yes, indeed."
Fang Mo echoed cheerfully: "So is Ben."
"...The Henry you thought you knew was actually Mystique all along." Erik glanced at Fang Mo strangely but soon shifted his focus back to the senator: "She's a mutant capable of shapeshifting, and she's been by your side for a long time. Quite surprising, isn't it?"
"This…"
Upon hearing this, the senator's face turned noticeably pale.
However, being a senator, he was quite skilled with his words and immediately said, "If you think killing me is good for you, then you are wrong. My death will only prove my proposal right. Humanity will band together to eliminate you mutants."
"Hehehe..."
However, Eric just chuckled at this.
"I have to say, senator, you have a tongue as disgusting as a toad's."
At this point, Eric instinctively glanced at Fang Mo. Of course, he had heard about the death of the toad man from Sabretooth, but now it was clear that Fang Mo was behind it. However, he couldn't say much to Fang Mo: "By the way, do you fear God?"
"What?"
The senator seemed a bit puzzled.
"In fact, I think of God as a mentor who brings hope. We should not fear Him," Eric continued to say to the senator. "What you truly fear is... me."
"I..."
"You fear us mutants, don't you?"
Before the senator could speak, Eric continued staring at him and said, "I can understand that because humans have always feared what they do not understand. Always."
"But now, you won't have to fear anymore."
Saying this, Eric suddenly turned around and walked towards a machine on a small island not far away. "You will never need to fear these things again, my... brother."
"What... what are you going to do..."
Although the senator was still defiant, it was obvious he was very nervous at this moment.
However, Eric ignored him and walked directly into the machine. Soon, the machine began to rise, and a circular metal structure surrounded him. Seeing this, Eric extended both hands and placed them on what looked like a control panel.
Eric's expression suddenly turned very grim.
It was as if the machine was extracting his power in some way.
As the power was fed into the machine, the circular structure at the top of the machine began to spin rapidly, and a cold, glaring white force field started to expand outward slowly.
"…Ugh."
Perhaps frightened by this bizarre scene, the little Cheems beside Fang Mo instinctively took a step back, whimpered, and then looked up at Fang Mo, gesturing with its paws.
"Hmm? What's wrong?"
Hearing this, Fang Mo also looked down at the little Cheems.
"Woof woof! Ugh!" The little Cheems barked twice and gestured at the senator beside it, "Ugh... eek... woof!"
"You want to save him?"
Fang Mo looked at the little Cheems a bit strangely. This little guy was quite kind-hearted, but that did seem to be its character. Otherwise, no one would say, 'Thank you, Cheems,' right?
"Emmm..."
Fang Mo touched his chin and thought for a moment.
He finally asked the senator, "Um, senator... may I ask your name?"
"My name is Kelly..."
"What? You're called Kelly!?" Upon hearing this, Fang Mo was instantly displeased and turned to shout at Eric, "Damn it, increase the power!"
"…"
Eric wanted to say something, but the machine was madly extracting his power. He felt as if his life was being drained and couldn't speak at all. He could only concentrate on controlling the magnetic field. Soon, the blinding magnetic field expanded outward.
In almost the blink of an eye, senator Kelly... or rather the entire underground cave was enveloped by this magnetic field.
At this moment, a system prompt finally sounded in Fang Mo's mind again.
[System prompt: The concept of 'Force Field Generator' has been researched, and you have obtained a new module download permission.]
[System prompt: Force Field Shield module is starting to download.]
[System prompt: Force Field Shield module download complete. Do you want to load it?]
"...What the heck?"
~~~
What the heck?
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